Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

My ancient and well-used Cuisinart ice cream maker with the pre-freeze insert died in May, and I had every intention of replacing it with the same machine. When I saw the relatively reasonable price on this built-in compressor model, however, I decided to buy it instead. I'm glad I went with this model. Pros: --Some say it's noisy, but it's far quieter than my old Cuisinart ICE-20. We can have a conversation in our smallish kitchen when it's on without problem. --It's convenient to make two (or more) batches in a row. --It produces consistently good ice cream and it's easy to get all of it out of the container. --It comes with two types of paddles. The gelato paddle does seem to make for a smoother, silkier dessert. --If you don't have much freezer space, it's nice to not have to dedicate a spot to a pre-freeze insert. --The stainless finish looks great if that fits your aesthetic. I keep the machine out on the counter top and it fits right in with my other appliances. The con: --It's on the large side, so if you don't have much storage or counter space, keep that in mind. P.S. I thought it might be helpful to add a note about recipes. We've made around 2 batches of ice cream/frozen yogurt/sorbet a week since May and are enjoying the ease of using this machine. I've been using recipes from David Lebovitz's "The Perfect Scoop" and Jeni Britton Bauer's "Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams at Home." Bauer and Lebovitz have very different approaches to ice cream but my family happens to like both styles. Each book is full of winners and you can easily find recipes from both authors online to try before committing to a book purchase. If you're an ice cream fan like me, you'll have fun experimenting and seeing how the textures and flavors can vary. UPDATE 8/2016: We've had this machine for four years, and it's still performing like new. Some tips: --Pre-chill your mix so that it's cold, as cold as the milk in your fridge. All of the recipes in the included booklet and in the two ice cream recipe books we own require chilling the mix for two hours or more before freezing in the machine. Ice cream won't freeze properly in this machine if you skip this step. You can put your mix in a ziploc bag and place in an ice-bath to cut down some of the chill time, but for the machine to work properly, your mix must be cold. My experience is that a cold mix will get to soft-serve consistency in 30-60 minutes depending on ambient temperature and type of mix. I made frozen yogurt tonight in a 79F degree kitchen, and it was able to be scooped and hold its shape in 30 minutes. --Do not exceed 4 cups of mix in the bucket. Keeping your mix to 4 cups or less ensures that the mix can freeze and not overflow the insert. Preventing overflow keeps the machine clean. I see that some people have had problems with a funky smell due to two holes in the driveshaft mechanism in the bucket. We bought ours in 2012. I don't see any holes in bucket/insert, and the machine hasn't emitted any odors.